DESCRIPTION (Applicant's abstract) This application requests support for a NHLBI-T32 Minority Institutional Training Program for both pre-doctoral and postdoctoral students at the Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). The fundamental rational of this proposal is the gross under-representation of African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans in biomedical research careers. The present proposal is based on the premise that one of the most promising mechanisms for enhancing the generation of minority students in biomedical science is to target resources at training programs that focus their primary mission on the higher education of minority students. The long-term objective of this grant proposal is to create a training environment in which minority students are inspired and mentored towards the pursuit of careers as leaders in biomedical science. In particular, our focus is to augment the number of highly skilled investigators pursuing research related to cardiovascular science. The establishment of the NHLBI-funded Cardiovascular Research Institute under the direction of Dr. Gary H. Gibbons, provides a great opportunity to develop a first-rate training program in Cardiovascular Science within the preeminent center of higher education for African-Americans in the world [the Atlanta University Center (AUC) that includes the MSM, Spelman College, Morehouse College, Morris Brown College and Clark Atlanta University]. We are confident of the success of this training program based on its unique combination of programmatic strengths: 1) the abundance of talented minority undergraduates and the culture of excellence within the AUC, 2) the strategic plan for nurturing this invaluable human resource into future scientists, 3) the quality of the research infrastructure and program faculty of the MSM, 4) the strong academic leadership and track record of mentorship of the MSM faculty, and 5) this program's innovative, collegial and collaborative network of partnerships that includes: Emory University, the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Institute, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. It is anticipated that the collective effort of scientific leaders committed to the task, a program faculty devoted to mentorship and a superlative array of enriching research training opportunities will enable these talented minority students to achieve their highest potential as future investigators in cardiovascular science.